Steve Waugh: Kallis the greatest of all time

Waugh was speaking to former South Africa Test captain Ali Bacher and, on the subject of cricket greats, had no hesitation in naming Kallis.

"'Of all time?' I asked him," said Bacher, speaking from London on Tuesday.

"Without any hesitation, Waugh said 'yes'."

Waugh told Bacher: "You only have to look at the runs he has scored, the wickets and the catches he has taken for South Africa."

Kallis has scored 13 045 runs in 161 Tests for his country, at an average of 55.98 and taken 287 wickets and 190 catches.

His highest score of 224 was against Sri Lanka at Newlands, Cape Town, in January 2012.

The 37-year-old is fourth on the all-time list of most Test runs scored, behind India's Sachin Tendulkar with 15 837 from 198 matches, Australia's recently retired Ricky Ponting (13 378 from 168) and also retired Rahul Dravid of India (13 288 from 164).

'No slouch with the bat'
Bacher was in London to interview Waugh, at Lords, and former All Black captain Sean Fitzpatrick, at Twickenham, as part of a series of interviews of all-time greats for local broadcaster SuperSport.

"Steve was speaking spontaneously and I feel it was a huge accolade for a cricketer who has been widely underrated.